Posts Made By: James Tooman

Hello!

I am desperate for a good right-angle finder for my Intes-Micro Alter M603 Mak-Cas. The stock IM finder is just plain bad.

I would like one that will fit in the current finder mount if possible, and that looks the same as my star charts. Also, I am not wanting to break the bank - but I guess that goes without saying.

Any ideas?

Thanks for helping out a relative equipment newbie!

James Tooman

Hey everyone!

Not quite sure where to ask this, but since the ads are usually about equipment, I guess here is as good as any!

So here is my situation, followed with a question:

Occasionally when I see an item that I would really like to buy on Astromart, but that I can not justify the seller's asking price, either because I think the price is too high, or because I just flat out don't have the budget to afford it, I will offer the seller what I can afford, or what I think its worth. I offer lower than asking price maybe 1/4 of the time - not more often.

Usually I say something cheery such as, "Hey! If you would be willing to accept xxx$ shipped to Southern California, I think you can consider this sold, unless you have already sold it, of course!"

This last time I received a sarcastic, negative response accusing me of "jewing" him down (their words, not mine). The seller went on to tell me to, "find another seller" because he was "insulted". BTW, the markdown I offered was LESS than 10%

WOW! I mean, in a decade of being active online with either BBS's and the internet, I have NEVER had anyone attack me for making an offer on used equipment for sale. It never even occured to me to worry about it.

This case was particularly ironic because the seller had already FAILED to sell the item in question and had reposted with a "reduced price".

So my question:

Is it incorrect "netiquette" to offer an advertiser of used equipment a price which is less than his current asking price???

Thanks to those who reply,

Confusedly,
James

Hello!

I have, until now, pretty much stuck to my monthy copy of Sky and Telescope supplemented by the Peterson's Field Guide...

But I have seen these beautifully laminate and/or fold-out star charts in my local astro shop for ~80-120 bucks.

Does anyone use these? Are they worth it? Are they a pain to work with at the telescope? Can you see the colored markings of non-star objects in red light?

Any feedback is very helpful to this relative newcomer!

Thanks,

James

Hello all!

Thanks for all the help lately. Ok, so I go out and order a UO 8x50 amici prism right-angle finder and now I have to figure out how to put it on my Intes-Micro Alter M603 MakCas.

I would really like to use the dove-tail mount that is on my OTA if possible. Below is a picture of both the mount on the OTA and the stock finderscope rings. It looks like, in theory, I might be able to just replace the rings using the dovetail bar that is on the current finder?

Where do I get such things?

And perhaps easier, is there a 60mm+ ID mount that would fit into my existing dovetail?

Any help is greatly appreciated as I have no idea where to start looking.

Thanks!

James

PS: The losmandy 65mm finder mount at Anacortes would fit the finder but I don't think it would fit the OTA?

Hello all!

I have to buy a mount for my Alter M603 (13lbs+ acc...).

I had originally tried to get an LXD55 and use the little chinese gem that comes with that, but the second scope was damaged too and I have just had it with trying to get a decent scope to sell off, not to mention once I had handled the gem itself, I was underwhelmed with fit and finish.

So... I have decided to get a better mount. I do NOT need goto, but I do want decent tracking motors and good stability, especially if I decide to upgrade to a 7-8" Mak.

Afdter reading a bunch about mounts, and owning a GP before now, I had come to two choices:

1. Losmandy gm8 w/polar scope(~$1650)
2. Vixen GP-DX w/dual drives (~$1600)

I had pretty much settled on a gm-8, and then I read about the EQ-6 on APM's web site.

The reviews infer that this is a comparable mount to the Losmandy G-11, and far more stable than the gm-8, with excellent tracking and virtually no PE...

And all for only ~$1200!!!

Can this be true???

Whats missing here? Is the EQ-6 really that much better than the losmandys? Why are they (relatively) so cheap?

Any help is greatly appreciated as I really weant to get this mount thing RIGHT this time!

Thanks,

James

Hello all!

Do any of you keep/carry your field tripods in a padded duffle bag? I am wanting one for the losmandy gm-8 tripod; ideally one that will also hold the tripod tray (12"cir).

Any ideas?

If you don't use or know of a padded duffle to fit this, what do you carry your tripod in?

Thanks for the help!

James

Hello all!

So I am in the market for some eyepieces, and I am trying to figure out how big of a deal eye-relief is going to be for me. Since I am an eyeglasses wearer, I would like to know what others experiences are.

What is better for less color, and more sharpness:

1. Contact lenses (soft)
2. Polycarbonate eyeglasses (no astigmatism, ~-3.75)
3. or...just resign myself to blindness and focus for my short-sightedness?

Any help is appreciated!

James

Hi guys - been a long time since Ive posted, but Im in telescope aquisition mode... Isnt it grand?

I am looking for a compact, lightweight refractor that can be easly jeeped to anza-borego and california sierra (~8000ft) locations with the occasional limited mile backschlep...

I have narrowed down to one of these two scopes - I think. My main interestes are for general night viewing, a little of everything really. I want to be able to push power for the easy planetary and lunar views, but also to do widefield milkyway scanning and faint-fuzzy hunting on those brilliant dark nights in the desert or mountains.

My quesitons are two-fold...

Does the flourite lens on the tak make up for the larger objective on the Borg?

And, is the extra pound on the borg meaningful where it comes to mounting (prob on a borg alt-az) and tripod (prob a bogen 11-13 lb tripod of some sort).

Ideally I would like to stay under 10 lbs with tripod, mount and scope, and I would like to put all but the tripod into a moderatly small doscosil/pelican case for jeeping.

Am I missing something? Is there a better choice in this price range?

Thanks for any insight!

JT

First a disclaimer: I have never posted here before but am a returning student of american history and political science at UCLA. I am unaffiliated with either party and vote a split ticket - a rare, true moderate independant. I am an accountant by trade living in southern california.

WHY BUSH WILL WIN
1. The Economy
This may seem odd as the dems have decided this is an issue that Bush is vulnerable - and he is, however, the US economy is looking increasingly less likely to cooperate with their political goals. True, the fact that there are 2mil people unemployed i nthe US hurts, but remember that the US still has relatively low unemployment (below 6%) and more importantly, employment is a trailing economic indicator. What this means is that since the economy (expressed as growth in the GDP) is definately on the mend, and the Fed has expressed an interest in keeping interest rates low for the forseeable future (i.e. through the election cycle), all the ingrediants are in place for jobs to be added to the economy in the next 3 quarters.

2. War on Terror
Regardless of what the rest of the world thinks, the majority of Americans believe that the Federal Government needs to be doing something about terror that involves our military. Now whether I personally agree with what the current administration is doing with that power or not, the fact remains that never has a sitting war-time president lost reelection (although perhaps Johnson would have...). When our boys are in harm's way, Americans have consistently chosen the devil that they know over the unknown quantity. And unfortunately for Kerry, his record on military/intelligence votes plus his vietnam protests overwhelm his heroic service - or at least the Repbs will insure that it overwhelms the air-waves.
(continued)

Just to put a cap on this event, after my scathing e-mail and negative feedback, the seller wrote me an abject apology which I accepted. Seems he had a very bad day and took it out on me. At least its nice to know that he was aware of his transgression and this was not his normal mode of operation.

I successfully petitioned to change my feedback to a neutral 3star criticism, noting his apology and reiterating that I was not impunging his honesty.

All water under the bridge now!

Thanks for all the comments on this topic.

James